Imagine one day the first colonists to space are sent out. They are colonizing, let's say, Mars or something.
Most people decide to stay home on earth, because it's extremely dangerous.
Anyway, the first colony fails, and no one knows why. But undeterred, a second group of colonists go out, then a third and a fourth, and pretty soon there are tens of colonies on Mars.
None of them are profitable. All of them are struggling. There were supposed to be treasures and economic resources on Mars, but instead, it's just a dead planet with not much going for it except its ability to kill humans for unknown reasons.
Strangely enough, more and more people load up on the colony ships and keep leaving Earth to colonize Mars. When you ask them why they tell you that Earth is shit and they have no opportunities on Earth, but they might get the chance to own land on Mars, maybe even prove themselves against nature.
Hundreds of years pass, and the colonies on Mars are still in a deplorable state. All of the investors lost all of their money. The colonies literally produce nothing of value except interesting stories about their weird way of life that occasionally grace your newspapers. Yet, strangely, people keep shipping themselves off to Mars, often selling themselves into slavery just so they can set foot on the planet. Why? "Because maybe we can own some property, maybe we can be free of the oppressive liberalism that is making life on Earth unbearable."
A few more hundred years pass by and not much happens, but the governments on earth start to notice that the colonies aren't poor. There are lots of very wealthy people there, buying lots of stuff from earth, often shipping it over with great expense. They still don't have anything comparable to Earth, but they are doing quite well for a change. So you decide now is a good time to try and tax them, make them pay their "fair share".
Meanwhile, poor people, sick people, desperate people keep loading themselves onto colony ships and end up on Mars. God knows what is happening to them, yet they keep going.
Push comes to shove, and next thing you know, Mars is in a state of rebellion. The armies you sent to quell the rebellion were turned away, and Mars insists on a trade agreement with Earth and nothing more. So you oblige. At least you can make some money selling them stuff, even though taxation is off the table.
A hundred years pass again, and now Mars is an economic powerhouse. Except you don't even realize it. You think they are still backwards, living in primitive shelters doing menial tasks. Some of the people from Earth who visit Mars come back, pack their bags, and leave permanently. When you ask why they left, they say "It's a planet of opportunity. I'm going to get rich!" This is really odd, because there's nothing on Mars that is economically valuable. Why would people flee earth, with all of its wealth, for Mars, which has none?
Another hundred years pass by, and Mars has a massive space fleet. No one can fly in space without their permission. Mars has a new foreign policy, which is simply this: "Trade with us or shut up, but leave us alone." It doesn't matter to you, because Mars doesn't have history or tradition. You come from Earth, where humanity was born, where civilization started, where science was discovered.
Another hundred years pass, and Mars has officially announced that they are accepting no more immigrants, and they want nothing to do with Earth anymore. Earth doesn't matter to them. They are colonizing all of the planets and moons in the solar system. They are building ships to fly towards the nearest stars, and they are living an advanced lifestyle that is barely comprehensible to Earthlings.
My dad toured Europe in the 50s and 60s as part of his military assignments. He went to Europe thinking that they were some bastion of morality and culture and humanity. What he found was you were all degenerate. Your country is so poor that his family, which was not rich by any stretch of the imagination, had far more than the vast majority of Europe would ever have. When he ended his military tour, he never once went back to Europe. Why? Because there is nothing there. The people are rude. They are full of pride. They are living like primitive people. They are living in the past.
You Europeans have stopped being relevant about 50 years ago. No one cares what you think or do. Germany, one of your wealthiest nations, ranks among our poorest states. Like, Mississippi and Germany are comparable.
You guys shit on us like we care what you think about us. We don't.
Go fight Russia and die in a fire for all we care. Because we don't. We're sick of fighting your stupid petty wars over stupid nonsense. We're done. We want a divorce and we want it now.
End NATO. Withdraw all of the US bases from Europe. Stop selling them our technology. Let them live or die on their own.
